Fuel management decisions?

This article is written to help you make an informed decision, so you don’t have to believe that “all systems are pretty much the same”, because they’re not!

I am not saying come buy from me, all I want to do is help you, be your adviser. Telemetry is my game and I love it. And that includes ALL brands of fuel/fleet management and automatic tank level gauging available on the Australian market.

Knowing you would like to have an automated fuel system that logs how much fuel has been dispensed, what vehicle it went into, who did the filling, date and time is the easy part. Selecting which system will work for you can be a nightmare if you’re not working with it every day.

Almost every fuel company, petroleum fitter or fuel tank supplier you approach will have their ideal system and will promote this to you. Why? Because they know the most about their system and they will have deals in place with their supplier to that make this a “product of their choice”. They tend to have very little idea how it differs from their competitor’s brand, in fact many will tell you, “they’re all pretty much the same” When I hear this statement, I cringe. It’s generally a cover up statement to avoid going into any depth about how the system will function and do you know why? Because they simple don’t know or sometimes they’ll know a bit and tell you what they know, but unfortunately the bits they don’t tell you are the things the system won’t do for you and you’ll be disappointed.

Eg. One company sold a system that can handle monitoring/recording of two nozzles from a single terminal – The installation was done and the customer began to use the system only to find that the two nozzles couldn’t be used simultaneously. Turns out the customer presumed they’d be able to use both nozzles at once, but the sales person wasn't sure so didn't talk about it......ooops!

I want to help you select the correct system for your needs and circumstances.

Okay, so I am aware this is a landmine for most decision makers. You really have no way of comparing “apples with apples” do you?

There are quite a few different brands available in Australia today. Prices vary depending on hardware/software features and functionality generally.

Unfortunately, no two brands have identical features, so there are always pro’s and con’s with each type of terminal or fuel management/bowser unit. You don’t want to buy the cheapest system in case it breaks down on you, yet the dearest system appears to be gold plated! Decisions…..

There are a few things to consider when thinking about a fuel management system:

1. What is the main reason you want a fuel management system?
• Is security important? (theft of fuel)
• Is record keeping important? (maybe for tax rebates or other reasons)

2. Do you want to have access to your fuel management reporting done from another office away from site or is locally installed software on an office computer sufficient?

3. How many vehicles do you have?

4. How many drivers do you have? (or people doing the filling of the vehicles)

5. Do you want records kept of both Vehicles and Drivers? (or just vehicles)

6. How do you want to identify your vehicles and drivers?
• RFID Tags
• Dallas Tags
• Codes
• Magnetic Strip Cards
• Don’t care – cheapest method

7. Do you want to be able to stop certain people from filling certain vehicles?

8. Do you want to try utilising your current bowser/s or are you looking for new bowsers/pumps?

9. If you are utilising your current bowser/s or if you are looking at new bowsers, what are the flow rates you have/require at each nozzle?

10. Do you want to restrict a certain vehicle from taking more than a set amount of fuel in one go?

11. How would you like to retrieve your data from the fuel management terminal? (Listed in order of price)
• Live online Transfer – this method generally has its own GSM Modem which means you can access live data from any computer/phone worldwide with an internet   connection. Most times a tank gauge can integrate with these types of systems allowing you to see your real time tank level too. If using this method, you will generally have to supply your own prepaid SIM Card.
• SD Card Transfer – this means physically going out to the fuel management terminal to fetch the SD Card, bring it into the office and download it onto locally installed software on your PC and then taken back out and inserted back into the terminal. While the terminal has no SD Card in it, it cannot function.
• Red Manager Tag - this means physically going out to the fuel management terminal and touching the tag on the i-button and downloading the data to the tag. The tag then needs to be synchronised with the locally installed software on your PC.
• USB - this means physically going out to the fuel management terminal and inserting the USB and downloading the data. The USB then needs to be synchronised with the locally installed software on your PC.
• Cloud based system

12. Do you or will you ever want to integrate your fuel tank gauge into the system?

13. Would you like to receive email alerts when your tank reaches set levels?

14. Is the fuel you want monitored just diesel or petrol as well?

15. Do you have a dollar budget in mind? (This is not a question to enable me to rip you off . It’s a genuine question, because of the big differences in prices between systems)

Once you have been through these questions and done a little self-assessment on your requirements, please call me.

You are now ready discuss your options. As I said before, you don’t have to buy anything from me, I do this because I enjoy it and helping farmers, because I know there’s a need for advice relating to all brands available.

Call me on 0400 763 081